


Secret Smiles and Pink Palms

by The_Busy_Beee



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: First Meetings, Fluff, M/M, Meet-Cute, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-22
Updated: 2020-02-22
Packaged: 2021-02-27 18:40:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,978
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22850353
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Busy_Beee/pseuds/The_Busy_Beee
Summary: Sakunami is rushing to make it to their practice match but gets distracted by the cute boy who can't find the sports store.
Relationships: Sakunami Kousuke/Shibayama Yuuki
Comments: 6
Kudos: 45





	Secret Smiles and Pink Palms

**Author's Note:**

> My first commission is completed! 🎊💕
> 
> A HUGE thank you to Iwaoi_Lovebot for commissioning me and convincing me to set sail on this (tiny) ship! 
> 
> Also, thank you for giving me a reason to finally use this Soulmates Prompt! 💖   
> In this universe, touching your soulmate will leave you both with patches of color on your skin where the other person made contact with you. 
> 
> Please enjoy these two soft boys!

He's late.

He's  _ so late. _

Futakuchi-senpai is gonna have him running laps for  _ hours- _ god,  _ why _ did he let Koganegawa keep him up so late last night?? He should have firmly told the other boy no and forced him to go to bed at a decent hour, but no- he had let Koganegawa talk him into staying up late and watching that stupid sci-fi movie marathon even though he  _ knew _ they had practice matches today.

Koganegawa hadn't left his home until well after midnight, meaning Sakunami hadn't gotten to bed until well after midnight.

"Next time," Sakunami swears, staggering as he turns a sharp corner, "I'm kicking him out for sure!"

He stops to catch his breath at the crosswalk as he waits for his light to turn green and catches sight of a vaguely familiar face. He frowns, watching the teen across the street look around curiously, drop their eyes to their phone, and then look around the area again. Probably lost, Sakunami surmises, watching the teen walk down the street, eyes locked on his phone screen.

Sakunami frowns as he watches the teen walk away, unable to push away that niggling feeling of familiarity. Does he know that guy?  _ Should _ he know that guy?

THUNK

The teen walks face first into a street sign and Sakunami snorts before clapping a hand over his mouth, trying to muffle the noise. His shoulders shake with barely restrained laughter as he crosses the street, eyes still locked on the boy sitting on the pavement.

"Excuse me," Sakunami calls, still smiling, "are you alright?" 

The boy's cheeks are red as he nods and pushes himself to his feet. "Y-yeah. Yeah that's uh- I'm fine!" He seems more embarrassed than injured. 

"Are you lost?" Sakunami reroutes the conversation, trying to offer the teen a way to escape the embarrassment. "You seemed to be trying to find somewhere-"

"Yes! Yes, actually!" The boy latches onto the new topic immediately, holding out a small scrap of paper. "My team has a practice game today and I was sent to buy supplies. Captain gave me this map, but…" he trails off and Sakunami can understand why he got lost looking at  _ this.  _ "I tried looking up the closest sports shop, but I think I missed it somewhere?" He scrunches his nose and Sakunami's heart flutters a little.

That's  _ adorable. _

"You're on the right street," Sakunami assures him after passing the note back, deciding to completely ignore the flutter in his chest. "It's right next door to the video game shop that has all the big promotional posters- it's totally easy to miss it if you're not looking for it. I could walk you there?" The boy's shoulders sag a relieved smile spreading over his face.

"That would be a big help! Thank you so much!" 

What the frick. 

Where does this guy get off smiling like that, with that cute little dimple and the creases at the edges of his eyes-

He quickly turns away, furiously ignoring the heat he feels in his cheeks, and starts leading them to the sports store down the street. It's really only a few doors down from the corner, so he could have easily just told the other boy that and let him find it himself, but…

"You play sports as well?" 

Sakunami blinks, head jerking up when he realizes the other guy must be talking to him. "Yes! I uh, I play volleyball at-" his eyes widen and his stomach plummets,  _ "shit! _ I'm supposed to be there now! We have a practice game!" he bounces from foot to foot anxiously before grabbing the stranger's wrist and tugging him along as he runs up the sidewalk.

_ "Whoa-!" _

"The sports shop is right here! It's small, but everything you need should be there!" Sakunami drops the stranger's wrist when they make it to the front of the store, hand coming up in a quick wave as he continues running. "Good luck!"

"Ah, you too! Thank you!" He hears the stranger call out to him. Sakunami smiles as he rushes to school, the anxiety of being punished for his tardiness mostly negated by the vivid memory of the cute stranger's smile. 

"Oh," he breathes, a little disappointed as he notices the school gate come into view. He forgot to get the stranger's name.

\---

"Where the hell have you been?!" Futakuchi cries as Sakunami stumbles into the gym.

"Sorry, sorry! I overslept!" He pants, quickly tossing his bag into the corner and yanking off his shirt as he toes off his shoes, not bothering to go all the way to the club room. The other team is already here and warming up, Sakunami noticed them when he came in. Futakuchi frowns down at him, hands on his hips.

"No excuses! Hurry up and get changed- were starting as soon as everyone finishes warm ups!" Something on the court draws his attention and Futakuchi exhales heavily before walking away, "Not like that, Koganegawa!"

Sakunami lets out a slow breath of relief, grateful that Futakuchi-senpai's attention is off of him for now. As he ties his sports shoes he takes in their opponents for today.

Nekoma, eh? 

Dangerous. 

The team as a whole is a force to be reckoned with, but even as individual players, their members are nothing to sneeze at; especially their setter Kozume-san. He's watched them play before and Kozume-san's calculating gaze sees through anything and everything in an instant. Their libero Yaku-san is also amazing at his job. Seeing the older teen dig up the ball and his amazing saves give Sakunami chills.

And now he has to fight against that?

He grins, excited.

_ Bring it on. _

"Kousuke-san, are you alright?" Koganegawa asks, suddenly squatting in front of him. Sakunami purses his lips, irritation prickling up again as he remembers last night.

"I'm fine, no thanks to you," he clicks his tongue and pushes to his feet to begin his stretches. "I can't believe you had the audacity to keep me up so late and then still show up on time." 

"But I called you this morning!" Koganegawa insists, rising to his feet as well.

"After I was already late!" Sakunami scoffs. Koganegawa's shoulders droop and he looks like a kicked puppy. Sakunami can practically see the folded ears and curled tail. He rolls his eyes. "Well, whatever. I'm here now; that's what matters, right?" He smiles up at Koganegawa and the blond's smile returns full force.

"Right!" His eyes flick to Sakunami's hands as he stretches them above his head and he frowns, eyebrows creasing in concern. "Kousuke-san, did you fall? Is your hand alright?" 

Sakunami frowns, confused, and lowers his hands. His breath catches when he sees that the palm of his left hand is a bright pink color. "What the hell?" He breathes, rubbing his right thumb over the color and frowning even harder when the color doesn't change any. 

"I'll get the coach!" Koganegawa rushes off before Sakunami can tell him that it doesn't even hurt. He flips his hands over, looking at the backs and fronts closely, but they don't feel injured?

Sakunami retraces his steps from this morning, trying to remember where he might have fallen or bumped into anything, but after leaving the house this morning, his hands didn't make contact with anything until-

"Oh." He breathes, eyes widening.

"Sakunami-kun, is everything alright?" Coach Oiwake asks, Koganegawa and Futakuchi quickly following behind him.

"Yeah! Yeah, I'm fine!" Sakunami nods his head with certainty, curling his fingers in and tucking his hands behind his back. The coach eyes him suspiciously.

"Koganegawa-kun seemed pretty worried about your hand. Are you sure everything is alright? If you're injured-"

"No, no," he rushes to assure them, "it's not like an injury or anything it's just uh… poison ivy?" That's gotta be the dumbest excuse he's ever used. The coach seems to think so too. 

"Poison ivy." He deadpans. "In the middle of the city."

"Yes." 

They stare at each other for a long moment before the coach rolls his eyes with a heavy sigh. "Wrap it up, then. I don't want anyone else catching your," he clicks his tongue,  _ ""poison ivy."" _

"Yes sir!" Sakunami agrees readily and hurries over to Mai and her small first aid kit. She offers to help, but Sakunami assures her he's perfectly capable of wrapping his hand by himself. It's not that he's  _ embarrassed _ about having a soulmark, but he knows if the guys on his team find out, they won't let him play it off. They'll wanna pry into absolutely everything; who it is, where they met, when they're gonna meet again, and Sakunami isn't prepared to tell everyone that his soulmate is just some random guy he met who's only in town for a sports match of some kind.

God, he doesn't even know what sport the guy plays.

But he was cute.

"Sakunami!" Futakuchi calls, "You ready?" Sakunami flexes his fingers, making sure the wrappings aren't too tight, and snaps the lid on the small medical box shut.

"Ready!"

The first match begins and Sakunami pushes all thoughts of his soulmate to the back of his mind. He'll have plenty of time to worry about it later, after their matches are over, but he definitely can't afford to be distracted while playing a team like Nekoma. If they see any openings, they won't hesitate to strike, so Sakunami has to stay on his toes.

Things are going well until Sakunami hears the gym doors open. At six points, they have a two point lead for now and Sakunami is feeling good about this rotation. He drops into a squat, prepared to dig up what's sure to be an impressive serve by Kuroo, and glances over at the benches, prepared to see a late Nekoma player or even a manager, but when he sees a pair of familiar grey eyes watching him, Sakunami freezes.

"No fucking way," he breathes.

_ "Sakunami!" _ Onagawa shouts. Sakunami looks up just in time to take Kuroo's serve to the face. The hit knocks him off balance and he falls backwards onto the polished court. 

"Sakunami?!"

"Kousuke-san?!"

"Jesus Christ-"

_ "Time out!" _

Sakunami covers his face with both hands, embarrassed and ashamed.  _ Of course _ he would take a ball to the face after he just promised himself he wasn't going to get distracted. 

"Are you dead?" Futakuchi asks, and when Sakunami peeks up through his fingers, he finds the older teen staring down at him. 

"Kinda wishing I was," Sakunami admits quietly. He takes the hand Futakuchi offers him and hefts himself up.

"Do you need to get checked out?" Futakuchi asks, giving him a once over. "There's no blood, but you looked like you fell pretty hard."

"My butt took most of the impact," Sakunami assures him, rubbing at the sore spot on his tailbone. He's definitely gonna be feeling that for a couple days. Futakuchi eyes him a moment longer before nodding and getting back into position. 

"Sorry!" Across the net, Kuroo bows in a show of apology. Sakunami holds his hand up and smiles.

"Nah, it was my bad!"

He resolutely  _ does not look _ at the Nekoma bench for the rest of the set. 

\---

The first set is their loss.

The coach calls for a three minute water break before starting set two, and Sakunami is grateful for the small break. He can feel the Nekoma member's eyes following him on the court and it makes him anxious. He doesn't wanna look bad in front of him, but he also doesn't want to show off and it's so  _ weird _ knowing that the person who's supposed to be his other half is on the other side of the court, watching him-

"YOUR SOULMATE IS IN DATE TECH?!" One of the Nekoma members shouts. Sakunami violently chokes on his water.

"Kousuke-san?!" Koganegawa startles beside him. Sakunami pounds on his chest as he coughs, trying to clear the water out of his windpipe. When he looks up from the gym floor, the entirety of the Nekoma team is staring at him. A heavy hand lands on his shoulder and he feels a chill run up his spine.

"Poison ivy, huh?" Futakuchi says.

"Uh…"

\---

He takes the wrapping off his hand after that. Not like it had a purpose anymore, right? It hadn't been hindering his play, but why wear it when everyone knows now?

They play another five sets, totaling two full games, before the coaches call for a lunch break. Sakunami dips out of the gym, gym bag in hand, before his teammates can descend on him like the feral beasts he knows they can be and sprints to the vending machine behind the cafeteria. Luckily he remembered to grab his bento from the fridge this morning while he rushed around the house so he doesn't have to brave the cafeteria with his teammates.

It's Sunday, so the campus isn't very crowded even with the other sports clubs Sakunami has seen milling around, and he's able to find a quiet spot under a tree near the back of the school to sit and have his lunch. When he lifts the lid of the bento box, his eyes find the pink on the palm of his hand and he stills. 

It still doesn't really feel real yet. Like- he met his soulmate. That's… that's a pretty big deal. He cradles his left hand in his right and rubs his thumb over the pink color as he thinks about his soulmate- Shibayama, he thinks he heard the other coach say. Shibayama is a first year libero as well, apparently. Sakunami can't help but wonder what Shibayama must look like when he's on the court; what stance he favors, what his specialties are, how he dives for a close save.

"Sakunami-san?" Sakunami's breath catches and he quickly looks up to find the person currently occupying his thoughts a mere three feet away. "I uh. I saw you sneak away from everyone earlier, and I hope you don't think it's too forward but um." He falters. He holds up his own bento and gives a small shrug. "Would you like to eat together?" 

Sakunami smiles, "Definitely." 

\---

Sakunami had been worried it would be awkward at first, but once they actually managed to introduce themselves, conversation flowed pretty easily. 

"Everyone at Nekoma is so good," Shibayama confesses, a small smile on his lips, "so I really don't feel like there's much for me to do. I don't really have much of a purpose right now. But," he looks up from his lunch and the determination in his eyes makes Sakunami's heart flutter, just like his smile this morning, "I'll keep working hard. There's got to be something that even I can do. Something that  _ only _ I can do," he rephrases. "I'll keep working towards becoming a starting member."

"Mm." Sakunami gives a firm nod, his own smile widening. "You can do it! I know for sure you can do it!"

Their eyes linger on one another for a long moment, smiles still intact, and Sakunami thinks it wouldn't be hard to sit and talk with Shibayama for hours. He knows he'd never get bored.

"There you two are!" Koganegawa cries and Sakunami flinches, shoulders hunching as he will himself to become invisible. "Practice is starting up again!" He sighs as he snaps the lid on his bento box; once again, he failed to become invisible. Shibayama is grinning at him when he looks up, and he can't help but smile as well-

"Guys seriously!" Koganegawa whines, "The coaches-"

"Alright, we're coming!" Sakunami snaps pushing to his feet. "Give us a second!" Sakunami holds his right hand out and Shibayama pauses for a moment before smiling softly and grabbing onto Sakunami's forearm to pull himself up.

The touch leaves both of their palms and inner forearms pink in the imprint of the other's arm and hand, and sets butterflies loose in Sakunami's stomach.

"It's so weird," Shibayama laughs quietly as they walk back to the gym. "People talk about soulmates all the time, but it just seems like romance fiction. But we're- we're  _ soulmates." _ He sounds just as awed as Sakunami feels.

"It's really weird," Sakunami agrees. "But… it's not a bad feeling… is it?" He asks, looking at Shibayama for confirmation. Shibayama's smile is soft again, much like Sakunami's heart right now.

"No, it's not bad at all."

\---

Their joint practice comes to an end way too quickly for Sakunami's liking, and by the time the sun is setting, the Nekoma members are loading their things onto their bus. 

Conversation earlier wasn't awkward at all, but now that they're being faced with separation and a time limit and  _ teammates that he can clearly see watching them _ \- it makes it a little harder to speak freely.

"We should probably exchange contact information," Sakunami suggests- and then immediately feels lame.  _ Of course _ they should. That's  _ literally _ the first step to getting to know someone,  _ especially _ if they live five hours away. But Shibayama nods readily and pulls his cell phone out like maybe he had been waiting on Sakunami to suggest it, so he doesn't feel quite so lame anymore.

They swap email addresses and cell phone numbers, and Sakunami puts a cute little cat sticker beside Shibayama's contact information in his phone, but he doesn't tell the other boy that. Shibayama's dimpled smile is just as cute now as the first time he saw it, and Sakunami really doesn't want their time together to end yet.

"Maybe," he starts, licks his lips and tries again, "maybe we could hang out one day soon? When we don't have practice, or something?"

He loves Shibayama's bright, dimpled smiles, but he thinks maybe he likes the soft, shy ones even better; it feels like they're secret, meant just for him.

"I'd really like that."


End file.
